June 16, 2016 -- Bucharest, Romania

In January 1941, the city was the scene of the Legionnaires' rebellion and Bucharest pogrom. As capital of an Axis country and a major transit point for Axis troops en route to the Eastern Front, Bucharest suffered heavy damage during World War II due to Allied bombings. On 23 August 1944 it was the site of the royal coup which brought Romania into the Allied camp, suffering a short period of Nazi Luftwaffe bombings as well as a failed attempt by German troops to regain the city by force.
A major part of Bucharest's architecture is made up of buildings constructed during the Communist era replacing the historical architecture with high density apartment blocks – significant portions of the historic center of Bucharest were demolished in order to construct one of the largest buildings in the world, the Palace of the Parliament (then officially called the House of the Republic). In Nicolae Ceaușescu's project of systematization new buildings were built in previously historical areas, which were razed and then built upon.

One of the singular examples of this type of architecture is Centrul Civic, a development that replaced a major part of Bucharest's historic city centre with giant utilitarian buildings, mainly with marble or travertine façades, inspired by North Korean architecture. Communist-era architecture can also be found in Bucharest's residential districts, mainly in blocuri, which are high-density apartment blocks that house the majority of the city's population.